I'm Mr Brightside
by Purple-Spider
Summary: In which Spencer gets a date with Mallory and we get a bit of a look at the unstable emotional state of a dead rock star. (One-sided ectofeature on Billy's side of course)


Hey guys, Finn here! I posted this on tumblr a while ago and quite a few people seemed to like it but I forgot about it completely until now so I figured I might as well share it with the crowd to see how it goes.

By the way I had no idea what to title this as but I decided to call it Mr. Brightside to keep up with my long tradition of naming fanfics after songs that they somewhat remind me of so just ignore the title and we'll get along fine.

* * *

Billy glared in annoyance at Spencer while the younger boy stared dreamily at Mallory across the classroom. The dead rock star had been noticing increasingly lately how often his best friend spent mooning over the popular girl and, more importantly, not paying attention to _him_. It was ridiculous; what did she have that he didn't have? He was Billy Joe Cobra! Hundreds of thousands of people would be dying- no pun intended- to hang out with him right now, Spencer was the only one who had the opportunity and he wasted it making eyes at some girl who barely even knew he existed.

Instead of casually tossing a desk at her head like he was going to Billy caught himself at the last second and opted instead for taunting Spencer about his little crush. "Duuude, if you like her so much why don't you just ask her out?" He snarked. The ghost assured himself that it was alright; Spencer was way too much of a wimp to even talk to her, much less ask her out.

"Maybe I will." Spencer hissed back just seconds before the last bell of the day rang and the students all scrambled to get out of the dull place.

Billy snickered to himself while they walked out of the classroom. "No you won't, bro. No offense but she's kind of out of your league."

"Offense taken! And besides, I think she might like me back." Spencer's eyes trailed back over to the object of his affections as he spoke, causing another surge of anger to flow through the ghost.

"Alright then, do it! I dare you!" Billy taunted, poking a finger at Spencer's chest. For a second he wondered why he had just said that. He didn't want Spencer to ask Mallory out. In fact, he wanted the exact opposite.

A familiar but uncomfortable feeling arose in Billy's stomach and he tried to push it to the back of his mind, knowing now was not the time. It happened a lot lately, that feeling. Every time Spence was sitting a little too close to him when they were watching movies together, every time he fell asleep before Billy did and his eyes hovered over the boy's sleeping face a little too long, every time Spencer was staring at Mallory and he found himself wishing that the brown-haired boy would look at him like that, just once. Not that he could say anything about it out loud though. Spencer wasn't just another fling with a random groupie, he was important. He was his best friend, and frankly the last person he really cared about. If he said something about these feelings he had and Spencer was mad at him, or disgusted, or even if it just made everything awkward from then on, he wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Fine I will." Spencer snapped Billy out of his thoughts.

"Wait, what?"

"I will. I'll go ask her out right now." Spencer replied with determination.

Billy caught himself panicking for a second before taking a deep breath and reassuring himself again that it wasn't going to happen. And even if it did of course Mallory wasn't going to actually say yes. He wasn't lying about what he said earlier. Mallory really was out of Spencer's league, just more of in a social way than in his own personal opinion. In his own opinion Spencer was kind of, just a little bit, perfect in every way. It's not like _she_ would notice of course, but Billy wasn't complaining.

They were outside the school now and, to Spencer's credit and a little to Billy's surprise, the kid actually did somehow work up the nerve to walk over to Mallory and her friends, leaving Billy behind to watch.

The ghost was having a hard time keeping it together even as reassurance after reassurance ran through his mind and he tried to take some deep breaths. Technically he didn't have to breathe, being dead and all, but it definitely helped when he needed to calm down.

Billy watched on intently as Spencer spoke to Mallory and her friends giggled at him. That was a good thing right? He knew how these popular kids worked. If her friends were laughing at him she'd definitely turn him down, whether she wanted to or not, or else she'd risk her reputation. A smile tugged at the corner of the transparent man's mouth. He honestly felt a little bad about his best friend potentially getting his feelings hurt but that was nothing compared to the relief he felt that he would never have to see them together the way he thought him and Spencer should be. They would go home and watch some monster movies and eat popcorn and smooth peanut butter, and Billy would cheer him up and Spencer would forget why he was even sad in the first place, then he'd realize how amazing and attractive Billy really was and-

Billy's train of thought was cut short by the sight of his friend practically skipping back towards him with a smile on his face. That was weird. Shouldn't he be sad that she turned him down? Unless-

"Dude she said yes!" Spencer practically yelled, forgetting temporarily how crazy he must look to anyone who might be watching.

Billy's stomach dropped. He attempted to swallow the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat and he felt like he was going to be sick. "What?"

"Yeah, man, she said yes! We're going on a date this Friday." Spencer looked so happy, with absolutely no idea what was happening to his friend right in front of him. "Thanks for getting me to ask her, by the way, I couldn't have done it without you."

Billy mentally hit himself while putting on a fake smile for Spencer on the outside. He was good at that. "Congrats, brotato chip! It's about time you got yourself a girlfriend."

"She's not my _girlfriend_, we're just going on a date. But hey, maybe if all goes well she will be. We'll have to wait and see right?" Spencer chirped before making his way over to where his bike was parked.

"Heheh, yeah, let's… wait." Billy responded, his energetic charade faltering a bit and he trailed behind his friend wondering what he had just done.

* * *

Friday night seemed to take forever to get there. Spencer had spent the rest of the week mostly daydreaming and questioning Billy about how he thought the date was going to go, and what to do to impress Mallory, while most of Billy's time had been taken up by faking being happy for him and increasingly feeling more and more like the world was about to end. But Friday did eventually come and 30 minutes before he had to go meet Mallory at the restaurant they were going to Spencer stood in front of the mirror in his room admiring and critiquing his nice outfit and combed hair.

"You look great, bro." Billy startled Spencer by sneaking up behind him due to not being able to see his ghosty friend's reflection in the mirror.

"Thanks, Billy. So you think she'll like it?" Spencer grinned.

Billy took in the boy's appearance carefully. He really did look cute, Billy thought and he pretended for a second that Spencer was dressed up like that for him and felt a sharp shard of pain stab him in the heart. "Yeah, bro. She'll love it." Billy responded, barely finding enough energy to offer a lop-sided grin at his friend.

"Great!" Spencer's gaze traveled from the mirror to the clock on the wall and he jumped. "Whoa look at the time! I better get going!" He exclaimed before grabbing his wallet from the dresser and dashing towards the elevator.

"Wish me luck!" The excited teen called from the elevator before the doors closed in front of him.

"Good luck." Billy mumbled softly after the elevator was already on it's way down.

The dead musician stayed where he was, hovering in the middle of the room for a long time after Spencer was gone. "_This is all your fault,_" a little voice in his head whispered "_If you hadn't taunted him into asking her out he'd be home with you right now and you wouldn't have to be alone again_."

Billy choked on a sob that made it's way up his throat. He didn't know why his conscience liked to torture him at times like this, but it was right of course. He had screwed up pretty bad this time.

A couple stray tears made their way into his eyes as he silently drifted across the room and picked up his guitar before realizing that he really didn't feel like playing it. It was funny; he usually turned to music when he was feeling down but this time he couldn't bring himself to strum more than a few chords. "_I wonder what Spence is doing right now…_" He thought dejectedly.

Billy set his guitar down and wiped the tears from his eyes as a sudden resolve hit him. He could totally go find out what Spencer was doing right then if he wanted; it wasn't like anyone was going to see him. Spencer hadn't taken off his necklace before he left of course, he never took it off, but Billy was pretty sure he could sneak around him, just to see how the date was going.

Quick as a flash he phased through the wall of Spencer's room into the night and flew over the streets below. It didn't take him very long to reach the restaurant where his bro and Mallory were supposed to be having dinner and he flew over the top of the building, phasing through the attic and the upper floor to stick his head into the main dining room through the ceiling.

He spotted Mallory and Spencer pretty quickly and moved a bit closer, making sure to stay out of Spencer's sight the whole time. The young couple looked like they were having a good time; laughing and talking energetically. Billy felt a pang of jealousy and repulsion go through him. He had to admit, they made a good couple, but Spencer could be having just as good of a time at home with him than he could anywhere else, including here.

He floated down the table they were at, stopping to hover quietly a couple inches above the ground behind Spencer. The pretty girl directly in front of the both of them made a terrible joke and Billy flinched while Spencer laughed so hard the ghost was afraid he was going to choke on his food. _"Is he serious? My jokes are waaaay better than that!_" Billy thought incredulously before making a face at Mallory across the table. Not that she could see it.

"I'm having a really great time Spencer." The girl smiled brightly at him. "Honestly I should have given you a chance a long time ago."

Billy couldn't really see but he figured Spencer was smiling back at her as he replied. "It's okay. I really should've asked sooner, so I guess it's both our faults huh?"

Mallory nodded but instead of continuing the conversation like Billy thought they were going to they both just held each others' gazes for a couple seconds. "_What are you doing?_" Billy thought, even though he already had a pretty good idea. The two teens leaned across the table towards each other slowly. "_No! Please just go back to eating! Please-_" Billy screamed in his head before the two locked lips in front of him.

Billy wasn't sure what happened to him as the most anger and desperation he'd ever felt in his life, or _after_life, washed over him and he panicked. He grabbed the edge of the table closest to him and flipped it over, flinging all the food that was on it onto Mallory and the floor, knocking her chair over in the process. The brunette girl hit the ground with a thud and Spencer whipped his head around to find Billy hovering behind him, breathing heavily.

It suddenly hit Billy what he had just done and his eyes traveled from the mess on the floor, to the girl screeching over her ruined dress and hair, to the boy in front of him glaring at him with more hatred than he'd ever seen the kid express at one time and he suddenly felt like he was going to throw up.

"I'll. Meet you. At home." Spencer whispered through gritted teeth before rushing to help his date, his expression quickly changing from anger to concern as he knelt down next to her asking hurriedly if she was alright.

All of a sudden Billy couldn't take it anymore and dashed through the crowd of confused onlookers and out the door, his eyes filling with tears again and wishing he could die more than once.

* * *

By the time Spencer got home Billy had had time to collect himself, prepare for the harsh scolding he was going to get, and beat himself up for never thinking before doing stupid things like ruining his best friend's date with the girl he liked.

Billy's head snapped up at the sound of the elevator arriving and Spencer stomping out of it towards him. "H-hey bro, look I know you're mad but-"

"Mad? No Billy, I'm not mad. I'm furious! My date was a complete disaster because of you! What were you thinking!?" Spencer shouted, standing over his ghost friend as he shrunk down in front of him.

"I- I don't know…" Billy stuttered.

"Of course you don't, because you _never_ think! You just do whatever you want, whenever you want, because you're the famous Billy Joe Cobra! And you never think of anyone but yourself!" Spencer's face was red by now from yelling and Billy noticed he had his fists clenched so hard his knuckles were turning white. "What I'm wondering is why Mallory? What did she ever do to you?"

Billy hesitated. "_You might was well come clean. If he's going to hate you forever then he might as well know the truth_." Billy's conscience nagged him. He swallowed and straightened himself up a little. "She took you away from me." He said, with a more uncertain voice than he was aiming for.

"Are you serious, Billy? She didn't 'take me away from you' we were only going on one date! And I thought you were cool with it! But no, there you go again, only thinking about yourself, just like I said!" Spencer's nose was almost touching Billy's at this point.

Billy didn't understand why he did it but, for the second time that night, he reacted without thinking, just like Spencer said, and grabbed his friend's face and leaned down, pressing his lips to the younger boy's forcefully, his eyes shut tight. For a second he felt a spark of emotion run down his spine, his heart sped up and he almost shuddered before the shock wore off and he felt Spencer's hands on his chest push him away.

"By 'she took you away from me' I meant you like her and not me." Billy inserted quickly before the brown-haired kid could say anything.

Spencer had taken a couple steps back and was staring at him in disbelief with wide eyes. "T- that's why you flipped the table over when she kissed me?" He murmured.

Billy nodded, a pleading look on his face, unable to speak, and immediately regretted his decision. He felt like someone was squeezing his heart and his throat at the same time while his entire world collapsed around him and he wondered how many things he could possibly screw up in one night.

"Billy… I'm sorry I- I don't know what to think about this." Spencer said shakily, taking a couple more steps back. "I- I need to take a minute." His eyes shifted to the floor before spinning around and running to the elevator.

Once again, Billy was left floating in the middle of the room. Alone. "_He's right_," His inner voice whispered softly, "_All you ever think about is yourself_."


End file.
